lanejacobs84

Does anyone have an idea on the best way to repair our cracked interior plastic where the curtain rod Molly screw has pulled out and fractured the plastic? Maybe some type of “splint”? Thank you! 1979 J

Had an annual last year and we were chasing high CHTs (up to 430 max in cruise) on #1 cylinder. A&P suggested an cylinder overhaul. It was overhauled and subsequently did nothing for the high CHTs. Put in a new exhaust valve guide during that overhaul and in the past year oil consumption went up (1qt in 3.5hrs). Now my '79 J has a destroyed cylinder because the valve guide failed (literally broken in half) and started throwing metal into the oil. Compression on that cylinder was 20/80 and the valve had gas erosion. So if you had the valve guide replaced maybe check that? Something in there is making metal.

1979 M20J io-360 A3B6 (no D) 3280TT ~1500SNEW I'm looking for theories as to why my #1 cylinder exhaust valve guide had a complete failure and started producing substantial steel and aluminum 100 hours after being overhauled in July of 2023. Backstory: I bought the plane from my Dad who has owned it since 1988 and flown it regularly and taken good care of it. I grew up in it. Last summer on my first flight I noted the #1 CHTs were climbing well over 400f. So I did a prebuy/annual and the local Hood River, OR A&P inspected and said the valve guide was out of limits as well as the rings. The cylinder was honed for resurfacing. The guide and rings were replaced. Equal cylinder fuel flow was noted and the injectors were cleaned. I replaced the baffling subsequently because none of these actions reduced the CHTs as much as the baffling did. It still creeps over 400f... Anyways, we bring it to the Troutdale Mooney Service Center a week ago and they say the exhaust valve guide is broken and loose in the head. The guide was moving up and down in the cylinder casting and now the largest oversize guide just falls into it. So it destroyed the overhauled cylinder 100 hours into its first overhaul. Frustrated to say the least. Now apparently new Lycoming cylinders are backordered for an unknown time. Has anyone experienced a failure so quickly like this? I have a few theories but am just hoping to hear any thoughts.... Thanks to this great community. Lane

Hello all, Two of the four screws on the inboard right fuel uptake gasket are leaking. I just replaced the gasket because it was leaking itself and not sealing the fuel in the tank. My understanding is 20-25ft lbs for these screws. I have tightened the screws as much as I feel comfortable. Does anybody know of a solution to resolve this leak? I’m losing about 3-4 gallons a week in my right tank :-( I’m not totally convinced this is where I’m losing this much fuel but after a thorough assessment I can’t find evidence of a leak anywhere else. ‘79 J model. Thank you!! Lane Jacobs

The prop did not get serviced but they had to pull it off to change the alternator belt. Thats why I'm concerned about the O-ring behind the prop seal...the landing light was not hooked back up (which I caught) when they took the lower cowling off so I am concerned other things were missed too...

Just did a prebuy and annual on my Dads ‘79 J with a IO-360-A3B6, converted in ‘95. TSMOH 1460. He owned it for 35 years and I grew up in it. In my short ownership it’s burned about 0.75qts in almost 4 hours of flying and is down to 6.25. I owned a ‘66 C previously. The first flight out of annual I discovered a very small amount of fine mist I think is oil on the windscreen, lower cowling and horizontal stabilizer. No oil on the prop. This is new as I flew it before the annual and no problem. I know there are lots of threads on this which I have read :-) The mechanic said the prop seal and crank seal looked good. However, my question is, is it possible for the O-Ring (often forgotten I hear?) behind the prop seal to be bad, or forgotten, and for it to leak out of the space between the spinner and prop? I feel convinced that’s where it’s coming from. If the O-ring was forgotten I feel like there would be much more oil since it’s only a very small amount. Just trying to pinpoint the source… There is also a small amount of oil leaking from the top of the engine case from one of the bolts which is shown in the picture attached. I’ve read about the engine compartment airflow theories… I flew the plane for about 15 minutes after cleaning the engine and you can see how much oil leaked out. Could this also be the likely cause? I just don’t want to spend $$$ and time hunting down very small leaks if I shouldn’t be worrying about them…. Or maybe I should be worrying? Thanks in advance! Very appreciative of what a great resource Moonespace is. Lane Jacobs